SENTINEL SPIES. SECTION TWENTY-ONE PUNISHES. THE CORPORATION DECIDES. What was long feared has happened. The world is ruled by a single corporation. Religion and nationality have been eliminated. Race has been eradicated, replaced by a homogenous race of Associates whose singular purpose is to produce for the corporation. There is no want, because there is no desire, no freewill, hope or autonomy. "Sentinel spies. Section Twenty-one punishes. The Corporation decides." Those who deviate from this order, or who no longer produce for the corporation are erased, reclaimed and replaced.
Through a quirk or accident of genetics a black child is born. Allowed to grow to adulthood, separated and segregated from society, the child grows to satisfy the ego of the corporation, who studies the Last Man as a means of future prevention. Put on trial for the crime of existing at all, he pieces together an assertion of his right to be from the crumbling archives of those who once stood for freedom and justice.
While in these rotting and forgotten archives, he discovers the inhabitants of the Low City, a society that exists among the sewers and shadows. At first the Last Man sympathizes with their struggle, but the leaders of the Low City harbor a dark scheme to strike at the very heart of the corporation. Can the Last Man stop the Low City rebels from starting a terrible conflict, from which neither side will emerge? Can he escape and save the woman he loves?